Abhijay Kodali finishes 3rd in the US National Spelling Bee

The last 5th grader to survive in Bee made it all the way to Final 3
Abhijay Kodali, an 11-year-old from Flower Mound, Texas, came in 3rd position in the Scripps National Spelling Bee Competition.
The competition was held in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
Abhijay Kodali misspelt the word “aalii”, which looks a lot like what gets typed when your toddler accidentally grabs your phone.
He spelled 7 consecutive words before falling in the Round 13 on the Hawaiian word “aalii”.
He was the youngest among the 16 finalists. He started competing from this year, only in the month of March and joined bee when he won a regional competition in Texas.
“I’ve been to every bee along the way,” said Kim Martich, his teacher at Liberty Elementary School. “He has a passion for it.”
The competition started Sunday with total 515 spellers, the largest number of contestants in the 93 years of the national spelling bee’s history. Last year, there were only 291 contestants.
Abhijay’s older sister, Ananya Kodali, was one of the blue-chip Dallas spellers who never made it to the nationals- she lost twice at regionals to a speller who ended up finishing fifth on the Scripps stage.
For every 21,317 spellers who competed in bees around the world this year, only one advanced to the Scripps National Spelling Bee this week. That’s roughly the same odds as a kind becoming a professional athlete. An amazing achievement by these special students.